Kickstart basic accomplice Kat Kennedy poses for images on the enterprise capital group’s workplace constructing in Cottonwood Heights on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
Kickstart basic accomplice Kat Kennedy poses for images on the enterprise capital group’s workplace constructing in Cottonwood Heights on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
Tech veteran and newly minted enterprise capital investor Kat Kennedy acquired an early lesson in what fairness appears like, although on the time it was nearly everybody pitching in to do the work that comes with rising up in a rural agricultural neighborhood.
“The place I used to be raised, on a cattle ranch, I used to be fortunate to be raised by a father who put us to work on that ranch,” Kennedy mentioned. “I used to be fortunate as a result of he by no means handled myself or my sister any otherwise than he handled my brother by way of how we'd contribute to the work on the ranch.”
However what was the conventional chores routine for Kennedy and her siblings as children struck others as an oddity, a few of whom would ask her father, “Why are the women on the market working?”
“Fortunately I had a dad who not solely caught up for the way crucial it was for us to do this work but additionally how distinctive we have been at it,” Kennedy mentioned. “And that actually set the tone for my profession.”
And Kennedy’s profession arc has been noteworthy, first as a software program developer following her data expertise research at Utah State College, which led to a chance a few decade in the past to affix just a little identified Bay Space software program startup known as Degreed, an upskilling platform that helps people and organizations construct skilled expertise and certify experience.
Kennedy was worker No. 1 at Degreed, however headed up the ranks as the corporate grew, ultimately rising to turn out to be the corporate’s president and chief expertise officer. And alongside the way in which, she helped develop Degreed from a fledgling effort to a $1.5 billion firm.
Kennedy mentioned one of many alternatives she had in serving to to scale up Degreed was taking part in a number of funding rounds, efforts that generated over $400 million in enterprise funding, and studying that the relevance and significance of these enterprise backers went a lot deeper than the massive checks they wrote.
“I used to be fortunate to be part of each fundraising course of,” Kennedy mentioned. “I truly actually loved it and liked interacting with (the traders). I noticed how they operated and the worth they introduced ... and I simply fell in love with the work that they did and wished to, in no matter capability I may, emulate that work.”
That love was on Kennedy’s thoughts when she met with enterprise capital agency Kickstart Seed Fund in 2019. However whereas Kennedy wasn’t fairly able to pivot from her position in constructing a venture-backed firm to the investor facet of the equation, the seed had been planted, and some years later she was prepared for a brand new chapter.
Kickstart basic accomplice Kat Kennedy poses for images on the enterprise capital group’s workplace constructing in Cottonwood Heights on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022.
Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
When Kickstart introduced Kennedy becoming a member of the agency as a basic accomplice in early August, firm founder and basic accomplice Gavin Christensen mentioned her expertise, ardour and grit have been an ideal match for the profitable pre-seed/seed stage funding group.
“Kat has an unmatched ability set with regards to scaling corporations,” Christensen mentioned in a press assertion concerning the hiring information. “Her gritty, entrepreneurial spirit and keenness for serving to different entrepreneurs was precisely what now we have been in search of.
“Kat’s addition permits us to scale at a time when so many enterprise companies are pulling again, not solely on investments however on constructing their groups. Kat really embodies every part we worth right here, and we’re excited to see what the longer term holds together with her perspective on board.”
Kennedy additionally highlighted her emotions about Kickstart being the proper match for the sort of investor position she needs to fill.
“What I like about Kickstart is their technique round deploying capital particularly right here within the Mountain West and that in addition they deploy on the earliest, pre-seed and seed stage,” Kennedy mentioned. “I believed the empathy I may convey could be most respected on the early stage.”
Kennedy can be bullish on Kickstart’s founder-first mentality with regards to the businesses the agency has chosen to again because it launched in 2008.
“I imagine with the correct founder and founder crew you can also make a whole lot of companies work,” Kennedy mentioned. “By way of my very own expertise I noticed how requisite that was to getting an consequence.
“As a result of pains will come and down instances will come. However in case you, as a founder, are relentlessly targeted on a sure downside and you've got a imaginative and prescient for what the longer term may be, you’re going to have the ability to see by way of these difficult instances that may come to any enterprise.”
Kennedy’s expertise additionally uncovered her to the range and fairness challenges that run rife all through the tech business, not simply in Utah however throughout the nation.
“I've been in so many rooms the place I used to be the one girl,” Kennedy mentioned. “More often than not, these rooms have been fairly pleasant. However each occasionally there could be bias, whether or not overt or unconscious, questioning my capabilities or how I had acquired to that room.”
Kickstart famous in press outreach that Kennedy’s appointment makes her one in every of just some feminine companions within the state. And, regardless of years of efforts to extend variety amongst enterprise capital decision-makers, a big gender hole nonetheless exists. Ladies make up solely roughly 11% of investing companions at companies within the U.S. and, as a result of enterprise capitalists play a vital gatekeeping position in deciding whose concepts, merchandise and improvements obtain capital, solely round 13% of enterprise capital dollars go to startups with a lady on the founding crew.
However Kennedy is able to be a catalyst for change with regards to constructing variety within the funding/startup ecosystem, and it’s a objective she mentioned is being vigorously supported by Kickstart’s accomplice group.
“One of many issues I wish to do in my position now as a basic accomplice is a name to motion for a special profile of founders to return in and pitch,” Kennedy mentioned. “There might have been some hesitancy as a result of they didn’t see somebody who regarded like them on the opposite facet of the desk.”
Kennedy additionally supplied phrases of encouragement to these beginning companies, or seeking to pursue funding careers, that fall exterior the white, male-dominated demographic of the startup and tech funding worlds and famous the significance of position fashions for younger entrepreneurs and traders.
“To anybody who's feeling bias ... I'd say that it's so vital that you just push by way of it,” Kennedy mentioned. “Not solely do we want your contribution to the workforce, we want you to set the instance that it's potential.
“It's so vital that I not solely contribute, however I achieve this with out questioning my very own functionality. As a result of that results in nice outcomes for the businesses I serve, but additionally as a result of there are folks watching that I will not be conscious of and it issues for them to see me in that area.”